#30paintingsin30days | Beverly Shipko, Artist

Day 2. Macarons

January 2, 2017 by Beverly

Here’s another sweet treat, Macarons, that is more healthy than most. It has a delicate palette (and flavors!) that makes it an interesting composition. In that sense, it’s a slight departure from the more vibrant subjects I often paint.

“Macarons from DelRey Shop, Antwerp” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting, 16 x 20 inches on cradled wood panel

And now it’s true confession time. This is a larger 16 x 20″ version of a small 5 x 7″ Challenge painting that I did in 2015. You can see the differences in scale below. It certainly took a lot longer than a few days to paint (try weeks!) because of the size, details, and the individually mixed macaron colors.

I recently finished Macarons and thought this was the perfect time for its debut – especially since it certainly was a challenge!

Macarons required a lot of patience. The more I looked, the more I saw. Every time I put more detail in on one macaron, I had to add more to the surrounding macarons. At times, it felt like this was the painting that was never going to end. Finally I reached a point when I knew it was time to stop (confirmed by Bonnie when she exclaimed “Done!” after work), although the temptation to keep going was strong.

Thank you to Betty Heller for thinking of me and taking the original photo at DelRey shop in Antwerp.

My intention was to keep Macarons in reserve for a day when I wouldn’t be able to paint, which happened yesterday when we spent a chunk of the day with Noelle, a good friend from my Kraft General Foods days, and her family in New Jersey. It’s one our our holiday traditions. I wish I had celebrated this painting in style by bringing macarons for dessert, but I didn’t think about it until just now.

See you tomorrow for Day 3. Time to paint!

Day 1. Apples and Honey

January 1, 2017 by Beverly

“Apples and Honey” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

I thought I would kick off the New Year with one of my favorite snacks, Apples and Honey. This tasty treat happens to be healthy and fits with one of my New Year’s resolutions to take care of myself.

This painting came easily, at least partly because I had been staring at the drawing and internalizing it so long that I had a clear vision in my head.

I started painting last week so I could take my time – but not too much time since it runs the risk of being overworked. One of the reasons I do the Challenge is to practice capturing the essence of a subject and stopping while the work still looks fresh.

It also helped that I bought a tube of turquoise oil paint, a vibrant color that I found almost impossible to mix with any consistency. And Bonnie’s friend, Christina, gave her this jar of honey with the wand as a bridal shower favor, which I kept close by. The wand with the dripping honey is my favorite part of the painting.

I hope you and your family all have a sweet New Year! I wish you much health, happiness and peace.

New Year’s Painting Challenge, 2017

January 1, 2017 by Beverly

A few weeks ago, I decided to participate in the January 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge (aka 30/30 Challenge), sponsored by Leslie Saeta.

My first Challenge was exactly 2 years ago. Some of my friends say I’m a glutton for punishment to do it again. I think I just love to paint, and am looking forward to creating art without distraction and the opportunity to explore new subjects.

I started preparing in December 1st by going through my photo archive (100,000 photos and growing rapidly) looking for a theme. So technically it takes at least 2 days per painting when you include all the prep time.

Of course, I thought about sticking exclusively with some aspect of food. I also considered travel, nature, sea shells, every day objects, and using old postcards (I have my mother’s collection that includes a dirigible!) or famous artists as inspiration.

This process took way more time than expected. I have more unfinished blogs in my head than ever before!

In the end, I didn’t settle on a single theme, as you can see from this table of prints in our family room. I am simply choosing subjects that spark joy. Sound familiar?

It’s a good thing I started early since most of my compositions are horizontal, and I’m short on 5 x 7 rectangular panels (vs. 6 x 6 square). Since my go-to art store, A.I. Friedman in Port Chester, is out of stock on this item, I just ordered 20 Ampersand Primed Smooth cradled wood panels from www.jerrysartarama, and velcro to keep the panels from moving (or falling off!) my large easels.

I also bought a few tubes of acrylic and oil paints.

Today my framer, Joe at Artistic services, cut some thicker, flatter wood strips to raise the panels higher off the easel. Thank you Joe for the quick turnaround! Now I can easily reach the bottom of the panels (to sign, and to photograph without pesky shadows from the “lip” of the easel.)

A brand new memory card just found its way into my camera, along with a fully charged battery.

Of course, no challenge would be complete without some technical glitches. This time it was my main email address, which is working again after spending a few hours deleting several thousand emails, with more to go tomorrow morning. Webmaster Laura is working feverishly on a mobile friendly version of this blog and website that downloads faster.

Tonight I’ll start organizing my studio between painting and watching the Fiesta Bowl (aka Playstation Fiesta Bowl but that’s not rolling off my tongue…). Ohio State is playing Clemson and I’m conflicted about who to root for since the Big Ten Buckeyes are arch rivals of my beloved Michigan Wolverines… So whatever you’re doing tonight, I wish you a….

P.S. Thank you Bonnie and Laura for creating my Bitmoji! Do you think it looks like me?

Day 29. Mini Tootsie Roll with Bag

October 8, 2015 by Beverly

I seemed to be hooked on candy.

And just maybe Halloween is top-of-mind from the pumpkin decorations that Bonnie already put up.

“Mini Tootsie Roll with Bag” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

Whatever the reason, this was truly a rewarding but demanding painting that took a a few days. After working for several hours, I decided not to rush this since it had a lot of potential.

I wanted to revisit little Tootsie Rolls with it’s bag (that says Midgees on it, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue). Using a camera as my digital sketchbook, I took 25 photos with the bag before settling on this composition (reminding me of the dramatic angles in 19th century Japanese woodcuts).

It took a while to come to grips with the different scale between the bag and the Tootsie Rolls, and find a dynamic composition using this atypically shaped candy (rather static and awkward from this painter’s perspective).

Less was more in this painting. I settled on a single Tootsie Roll, eliminating both wrapped and unwrapped ones ion various stages of being consumed.

I went right to the sketch, skipping the toned underpainting, and started with the bag – not surprising since I like use the darks to establish the structure. The above photo shows where I was at the end of the first day of painting.

Thanks again to Ed Price, my Northwestern business school buddy, who first planted the seed of painting mini Tootsie Rolls, which weren’t on my radar.

I’m proud of the last two iconic candy paintings, the Day 28 Kit Kat followed by today’s Day 29 Mini-Tootsie Roll with Bag, which are drying together on my mantel. While both have a similar color palette, the approach for each is distinct. Do you have a favorite?

With Jay’s help, there will be a lot more open wrapper “research” around here as Halloween approaches. Photos of your own handiwork all always welcome.

I’m getting a sugar high just thinking about all this candy, so I need a break. Maybe it’s time to go back to painting something more healthy – and finish up Apples and Honey from Day 15, which in the sketch stage.

I’ll decide tomorrow. Until then.

Day 27. Macarons

October 1, 2015 by Beverly

This quiet pastel painting is quite a contrast to the bold, graphic paintings from Day 24 Salmon in Red, White and Black and Day 25 Classic 1959 Dodge, which is maybe what I needed.

“Macarons” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

Thank you, Betty Heller, for sending me the photo for Macarons after your trip to Belgium, which was taken at the inimitable DelRey shop in Antwerp. It’s a beautiful composition and I’ve been looking at it for about a year, but that’s all – looking…. until now.

Despite the fact that I had never painted a single macaron, I plunged ahead with this rather ambitious painting of 24 macaron (not macaroon, so Bonnie tells me). I hesitated before starting, but knew I was painting well (practice makes perfect). With the official Challenge ending soon, I knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world if this took 2 days – and it did. Besides, I’m already 3 days behind, so what’s another day. Here’s where I started and ended the first day.

After painting 10 macarons yesterday, today went a little easier. It’s funny how I started seeing these as mouths (especially the ones with the dark frosting). I just plodded along, experimenting with subtle differences in colors to try and capture soft tones, which is something different for me. Near the end, I started working on the light and shadows to bring life to the piece.

This is definitely a painting I wouldn’t have tried without the Challenge. And it took almost a month of intense painting before I felt confident enough to tackle it.

I took a risk and it paid off. Having said that, tomorrow I’ll be working on something a little less risky. I’ll try and get 2-3 more paintings in before making a collage of all my Challenge work, which I’ll post here.

The collage will be a great opportunities to look back with me at all that I accomplished in September. I hope you’ll join me.

Day 25. Classic 1959 Dodge

September 28, 2015 by Beverly

"1959 Dodge Comet Classic Car" by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

“1959 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

That’s the case with this painting. I was tempted just to post this without saying anything, but I don’t have it in me. However, I will keep this short.

When I look at this painting in person, I feel really happy. In Marie Kondo’s jargon, this sparks joy. And a lot of it.

Why, you may ask? It has such presence, which I hope you can see in the photo. And the whole process of creating this painting was joyful from beginning to end, which is why I spent an extra half day today working on it. After all, you can take the girl out of the Motor City, but you can’t take the Motor City out of the girl.

Back to work. See you tomorrow.

Day 24. Salmon in Red, White & Black

September 27, 2015 by Beverly

Day 24 marked another first in the Challege: my first entrée ever, salmon.

The full title of this painting is Salmon in Red, White and Black, since the colors are such a big part of this piece. (I’ve got Whistler’s Mother on the brain, which he formally titled Arrangement in Grey and Black.)

“Salmon in Red, White and Black” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

This past February, I was having lunch with my college friend, Lynn Hilkene, who still lives in Ann Arbor and goes to all the Michigan football games. (One day I’m going to go with her!) We met for a long lunch at the Beverly Hills Grill in Southfield, MI, where we sat for hours chatting a mile a minute.

I remember this particular lunch because we talked about the Challenge, when resulted in my Top 10 Lessons Learned post. After taking our obligatory photos, we ordered our favorite foods. In my case, it’s the salmon.

When my meal came, I was struck by the strong graphic quality of the composition on the table before me – the squares of the plate and napkins softened by the the circles of the glass and dressing cup and saucer, and the dramatic contrast of darks and lights. I considered the side views through the camera LED screen, but they didn’t look as compelling to me.

This was an ambitious choice because it was an entrée, which included a glass with ice cubes and a submerged spoon, either of which could have been a subject on its own. Here I was trying try to limit myself to simple paintings, and then I do the exact opposite.

The evolution of Salmon in Red, White and Black is rather interesting and I’ll show you why. I started with a detailed drawing, put in the background and shadows, and used a red background more evocative of the mahogany table appearing black in the photo. My intention was to darken the red with a deep brown. At this point, I actually thought about turning this into a gresaille painting (all greys to imitate sculpture, except for the crimson). I’m still wondering how it would have looked in greytones. What do you think?

Then I went back with the original plan and started adding in color beginning with the lemons and salmon.

I didn’t finish this in one day (probably shouldn’t have taken that hour off yesterday), and here’s what greeted me this morning. For a few hours, I worked on the glass, cup and spoon, and brought the color intensity of the salmon and vegetables up to the level of the lemons (which is more evident in person). My last step was to add the highlights to the green beans and deepen the shadows.

I have to stop to get ready for a RiverArts fund-raising party where my Oreo Mandala print is being auctioned off today. This is probably a good thing since the painting looks fresh and lively.

While I am still several days behind schedule, I am very happy with my first entrée of plated food, potentially opening a new door for a series. As with many of my paintings this Challenge, they look better in person, and this one does too. So stop by and see for yourself.

Later today, I’ll be working on another painting inspired by a Michigan trip. Until tomorrow.

Day 23. Star Tart

September 26, 2015 by Beverly

I love the patterns of the blueberries, strawberries and kiwi on Star Tart, which somehow reminds me of folk art quilts.

The real fruit tart is from our favorite bakery, Riviera Bake House here in Ardsley. I have painted various versions of tarts before, but never one straight on, from the top down like this one.

“Star Tart”, by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 6 x 6 inches

Maybe I got inspired by similar views from previous paintings – Day 11 Pomegranate Half, Day 6 Crumbs Praline Cupcake, and Day 5 M&M Cupcake, which are also top down views. Apparently I like painting circular compositions on square panels.

Today’s challenge was to capture the dimensional quality of the tart that is implicitly built into angled side views, which are easier to paint in some respects. That’s probably why I had this old photo lying around for 12 years (taken with my first digital camera) and never did anything with it until now.

I started with the background and the crust, and then moved progressively inward, as you can see in these photos. The order of the colors mirrors the physical construction of the tart, almost as if I was the baker. First you start with the tart crust and the filling, then you add the kiwi, followed by the strawberries, and finally a mass of blueberries. For some reason, my favorite part was painting the kiwi seeds. I don’t know why they were just fun to paint, maybe simply because they brought the kiwi slices to life.

My plan of attack also took into account the bleeding color factor, and started with the colors that bleed the least (white, blue, ochre, green) and end with colors that bleed the most (red and indigo blue). Being a daily painting, I proceeded slowly and methodically since there was little room for error. At the end, I went back to tighten some areas up, darken the shadows, and add the highlights to make the glaze shine.

Now that my dessert craving is temporarily satisfied, I’ll look elsewhere tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 21. Phoenix Sunset

September 22, 2015 by Beverly

Even though I have a whole table full of ideas, I wasn’t sure what to paint for Day 21. I decided to go with this uplifting Phoenix Sunset that brought back memories of a wonderful trip to Arizona, with its spectacular outdoor beauty.

“Phoenix Desert Sunset” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

The inspiration came from a visit to the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden to see the Dale Chihuly Exhibit with the family in 2009. Chihuly did a masterful job of integrating his glass sculptures into the desert environment, livening up the rugged terrain with splashes of vibrant color.

Jay and I had a mini-reunion with his two sisters, Leslie Dolin from Portland, Oregon (middle), and Pam Kanter, from Kansas City, Missouri (right). Look a little closer and you can see 3 Chihuily lime green glass cactus sculptures in the background.

Here’s the whole group with spouses (well, almost the whole group since I’m the photographer), starting on the left, with Leslie, Bill Kanter, Jay, Pam, and Leigh Dolin. With everyone in the family so geographically scattered, it’s always special when we get together.

We stayed until sunset when the cacti were silhouetted against the expansive Western sky. Late last night I started the painting and this is what greeted me in the morning.

As I put worked on capturing more of the drama of the sky and adding details of the brush on the ground, I felt like I was reliving my vacation. What a nice way to spend Day 21 of the Challenge!

Now I’m re-thinking my plan for tomorrow. See you then.

Day 19. Blueberry Pie

September 19, 2015 by Beverly

After yesterday’s Apple Cranberry Pie Server, I got a craving for more pie.

"Blueberry Pie" by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

“Cherry Pie” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

Not just any pie, but a partially eaten with a proverbial bite taken out.

I liked the idea of cropping the composition and focusing on the most most visually captivating part of the pie. Cherry Pie is about the oozing goo that comes with eating a big piece. While I considered coming in even closer, it wasn’t clear the pie would be recognizable as pie, so I filed the concept away in my notebook for future Challenges.

The idea was to immortalize this old-fashioned lattice pie, from our favorite bakery, Rivierabake House in Ardsley. Riviera still weaves strips of crust together, unlike many commercial pies that are die-cut from a flat piece of dough. I forgot how difficult it is to paint pie crust with its woven dough and subtle colors. In many respects, Day 18’s Apple Cranberry Pie Server was easier to paint since it’s broken up by the contrasting metal spatula.

Over time, my pie paintings have transitioned from more traditional compositions (as far back as 2003) set against a larger neutral background to more focused perspectives. You can see the progression here. What approach appeals to you? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

“Cherry Pie” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

“Apple Cranberry Pie Server” by Beverly Shipko,
Oil on cradled wood panel, 6 x 6 inches

When I first saw Cherry Pie this morning after finishing it last night, I was pleasantly surprised and happy with this painting. Of course, I have to control the urge to keep fixing little details, but I am learning…

I am puzzled by one thing – and that’s digital photography . The two pie paintings from the Challenge look so much better in person than in photographs, as do many of my other paintings. This was confirmed by my daughter, Laura, who has a good eye and just came home yesterday for the weekend from Urbana, IL for a wedding.

I spent a lot of time trying to get the best image possible at various times of day, shooting at night, in the morning, with natural light, a natural spectrum lamp, incandescent light – and even a combination. Then I tried shooting these both with my iPhone and Nikon compact camera in various places – on an easel, the floor, in different rooms, and finally got the best shots I could against the Oreo Cookie brown walls of my studio. Maybe it’s time to take a digital photography course.

This whole experience shows that nothing replaces experiencing original artwork in person. Now that I’ve vented my frustration and feel better (thanks for listening!), I realize it’s time to move on.

Have a great day! See you tomorrow for Day 20.

Day 12. Jay’s Spatulas

September 14, 2015 by Beverly

Here’s a typical scene that greets me in the kitchen when I come down for breakfast.

“Jay’s Spatulas” by Beverly Shipko, Pencil drawing on bristol board, 6 x 6 inches

You see, Jay and I have a deal. I load the dishwater at night and he unloads it in the morning. For many years, Jay has meticulously arranged the still wet utensils on paper towels to air dry, altering their positions (handle down, handle up) so they collectively take up the least amount of space on the counter (thereby using less paper towel). I think he picked this habit up during his early years working at Al Baker’s Restaurant in St. Louis and at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, where he earned his undergraduate degree. Certainly, my haphazard way of laying out utensils hasn’t rubbed off on him. Sometime he feels that I don’t appreciate how he clean and organized he keeps the kitchen.

I decided it was time to honor one of Jay’s temporary spatula installations in the above drawing of Jay’s Spatulas, based on the photo below from November, 2014.

As Day 12 approached, I wasn’t sure whether to do a pencil drawing or painting. If I went with the pencil drawing, would I go with graphite alone or add in touches of color, using my recently rediscovered pack of Prismacolor pencils hiding in the basement? I wasn’t sure how I felt about this as a painting, so I went with the drawing and decided to leave the colored pencils for another time.

As I started drawing, I soon found out that less was more. For whatever reason, I was drawn to the linear quality of the outlines, and started liking the drawing less when I used more shading. So I put my gum eraser to good use and took out much of the chiaroscuro representing the black color of the utensils. Along the way, I was tempted again to add touches of yellow and purple, but decided to save that for another time.

For the past few years, I have been photographing these morning compositions. Jay now says he keeps doing them because I like them (and admittedly I miss them when he is away playing bridge.) But I would prefer to think he executes these carefully thought out arrangements as a creative outlet. Certainly, Jay seems to be more conscious of his designs since I starting recording them, and has even upped his game over time by playing with more colors, different shaped kitchen tools and gadgets, and by including fruits and vegetables.

Previously, I have talked about creative family members – Bonnie, another food artist in the family, and Mom, the sports artist. While I could also refer to Jay as a food and sports artist, I would rather add Jay to this illustrious list as the more distinctive, unique Spatula Artist, a title that he alone absolutely owns.

Remember that you heard it here first: Jay Sloofman, Spatula Artist. Perhaps I should go out and make him business cards…

Maybe I’ll make some sort of photo book of his best creations, or maybe make it available as a free download. And I will dedicate it to all the under-appreciated husbands in America. So, do you think this has the potential to make the New York Times best seller list?

That’s a long way off for now. And Day 13 is fast approaching – way too fast. There aren’t enough hours in the day.

Day 9. Pomegranates

September 10, 2015 by Beverly

Pomegranates is my first fruit painting in years. Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed the remnants. To me, this fruit is as sweet as cake or candy!

“Pomegranates” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches.

I hadn’t been planning to paint this, but that changed when the mail came about two weeks ago.

It’s no secret that I am on a mission to get rid of 18 years of junk in the house. As soon as papers come into the house, I throw them out – a change from past behavior. So when I opened up a rather unremarkable, unsolicited package of Rosh Hashana cards, I found this one and stopped myself in the middle of tossing the cards out. I didn’t know why at the time, but I put this one on the dining room table (my work station for September).

With the rapidly approach Rosh Hashana holiday, I then started pondering pomegranates as a subject. They are colorful and have beautiful patterns when sliced open, both of which appeal to me. And I could use the painting as a holiday card or email. So I bought 2 pomegranates, sliced one open, and had a good time playing with compositions.

You would be surprised at how many photos (aka digital clutter) it takes to get one good one to paint. The pomegranate still life setups looked better in person than they did through the lens. When I realized they were too complicated to do in one day, I started taking pieces away until I ended up with simpler compositions, like this one.

My go-to color for the seeds was alizarin crimson, which I have never been able to mix. Fortunately, I had a new tube on hand. Ah, those seeds. It took me a while to get the hang of them, and I could still use some more practice capturing their translucent quality. The seeds were a change of pace from my typical dessert subjects, but I like to think of them as the crumbs that make the painting interesting. They were hard to paint, but not so hard that I got discouraged.

I liked watching this painting emerge today. At some point, I will do a square version of it to compare formats. Recently I have been thinking that the square format feels more contemporary. What do you think?

This is not the last pomegranate you’re going to see this month. I’m hooked in more ways than one.

Day 8. Eggs In-Sink

September 9, 2015 by Beverly

Sometimes you find paintings in the most unexpected places.

“Egg In-Sink” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled panel, 6 x 6 inches

One day last winter, I came downstairs to eat breakfast after Bonnie was finished (on December 12, 2014 to be exact; isn’t digital photography wonderful?), and this egg shell greeted me in the In-sink-erator, not an abnormal occurrence. At that moment, the sun came out, lit up the egg shells, highlighting the white edge against the earthy shell tone, and I grabbed my camera. The rest is history.

I think of this as a precursor to my egg series. Egg In-Sink depicts the egg-cracking stage, before anything else in these paintings can happen. You can read the Story Behind the Eggs here.

Egg Series from the 30/30 Challenge, Oil paintings on cradled panel, 5 x 7 inches.

Eggs In-Sink is rather monochromatic in tone. However, although I only used 3 colors (Payne’s grey, titanium white, and burnt siena), I still managed to use 14 brushes. The point here is that a deceptively simple subject can require more subtle and careful color mixing, not to mention paint application. And any painting with concentric circles like this one requires a lot of concentration.

For about 2 seconds I thought about naming this painting Eggs N’Sync, but I quickly realized I must be watching too much Justin Timberlake on TV. Besides, cutesy is not my style.

If you have any egg ideas or interesting egg photos, I would love to hear from you. Until then, it’s time to move on to the Day 9.

Day 7 of 30 – Vending Machine

September 7, 2015 by Beverly

There are a lot of firsts in this painting.

This is my first vending machine painting, my first food related painting on a black background (a color I rarely), the first work where my subject is half-submerged in shadows – and my first unfinished painting for the Challenge.

“Vending Machine” by Beverly Shipko, Oil sketch on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

Vending Machine is also the first wrapped candy painting of this Challenge, a potential series I have been thinking of about since I did a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup during the January Challenge. I’ve had a Twix Bar lying around since Halloween, which I intended to paint since it was my account at DMB&B Advertising in my previous life. You can read more about my sentimental attachment to the candy industry here.

The choice of subject was actually inspired by a detour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to a student show, where Jay and I saw a drawing of a whole vending machine. And that was the ahah! moment right before we moved on to the John Singer Sargent exhibit, our intended destination. Afterwards, the search for the right vending machine began. I never realized that all vending machines aren’t created equally. Jay found this one with the most iconic candy brands lined up all in a row, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Getting the initial sketch right was critical, so I studied many photos and actually packages, taking extra care setting up the structure and putting in the details.

I painted from the inside out, starting with the vibrant colors that brought the iconic logos to life, minimizing the chance of colors bleeding into one another. Then I put in the black rings, followed by the black background, which changes everything so it’s important not to wait too long.

There were so many details in those logos and wrappers that by mid-afternoon I was thinking maybe I bit off more than I could chew, that this was at least a 2-3 day painting, and I must have been crazy not to practice on a simpler vending machine painting with just one bar, like the Twix photo I was using as a reference. I even considered just doing a Twix drawing (which I used to call dinner during those late office nights) and just calling it a day.

But the 4-bar composition intrigued me from the moment I took the photos of our old office vending machine. The repetition of the circular wires holding the candies add a rhythm with their cast shadows and provide a unifying pattern – so I kept going. I drew on some lessons learned from my first Challenge:

Stay calm
Simplify the details
Focus on the net impression; don’t look at every crooked line
Plan a strategy,
Be bold not timid
Just hunker down to pull the painting off
Put aside your skepticism

This was one of the pivotal decisions I faced: Do I paint the bars as if they completely lit in the foreground, or stick to my original vision and put in shadows so they recede and are dramatically lit, which seemed to be more difficult than I had time for? I decided to go for the drama – and it’s drama that I got for the next few hours as I experimented with one color after another… after another…. for the shadows (while secretly wishing I had bought that metallic oil paint for the Twix wrapper.)

The question for all you artists out there: What would you have done? In retrospect, I was in a pretty good place at this point, but maybe didn’t know it. Perhaps I should have skipped the shadows or changed the background and the bottom strip colors to charcoal grey. I would appreciate the feedback.

Here’s where I was when I got up the next morning. The Reese’s was still muddy and the Twix was just sitting there.

I spent a few more hours experimenting with the shadows, and decided to call it a day since I was jeopardizing my next painting. At this point, the paint was too thick and wet, and I wasn’t adding any value.

I wish I had more time on this painting so I could have let it dry before reworking it right away (so what else is new), and kept the painting surface smoother. But then I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did about what I’m capable of under pressure (self-imposed, I admit) – something to keep in mind when I get my next commission. Full disclosure: I plan on trying this one again as a 2-day painting with a less severe background after the Challenge is over.

I’m proud of how I moved ahead and didn’t give up – and then wondered what would have happened. Bonnie would call this a learning experience. That’s what I’ll remember when I look at Vending Icons.

What do you see you looking at this one?

Day 6 of 30 – Praline Cupcake

September 6, 2015 by Beverly

Jackson Pollock. That’s who I think about when I look at Crumbs Bake Shop Praline Cupcake.

I imagine someone going wild with the icing bag just like Pollock did with brushes and cans of house paint. The biggest difference is in the anger – there isn’t any this cupcake, whose purpose is to make us happy and come back for more.

Day 6. “Crumbs Praline Cupcake” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 6 x 6 inches

The bottom line is that this cupcake design becomes an abstract composition. Similar to Poloack, Day 6 was about the handling of paint, but without the intensity. This work is all about the texture of the nuts and the building up of oil paint to literally simulate the nut crumbs 3-dimentionally on the surface of the panel. It’s all about the crumbs.

As opposed to the vibrant Day 5 Crumbs M&M Mini Cupcake, this delicacy has a limited palette. On Day 6, I decided to skip the plastic container that it came in (though I must admit I miss it a bit, and may try this again sometime with it) and added a little green to the background (a risky move for me since I’m not a green fan).

What is a praline cupcake, you might ask? According to Wikipedia, the broad definition is that it’s a confection including nuts and sugar, with cream being a common third ingredient. In France, bakers use almonds, while in the US we tend to use a combination of pecans, hazelnuts and almonds with milk or cream to achieve something akin to fudge. Whatever the recipe is, I remember it was delicious!

You won’t see this cupcake on the Crumbs website since it was a special cupcake that they made before filing bankruptcy. In the good old days, there was a wider variety of cupcakes on any given day and more rotating flavors. I wish I had taken more photos back then since Crumbs cupcakes look better than most, at least from an artist’s perspective. While competitors like Sprinkles offer great tasting cupcakes, how many can you paint with their signature circles on top?

This was a good break from yesterday, a relatively relaxing day (not as relaxing as going to the beach though).

Now it’s time to plan tomorrow’s treat. I feel a sugar craving coming on…